LAC(Sw) T&T gaming experience

[Hammers]

I must agree with Rhoderic (and I think Arcticman) that the game plays very well. We only did one beginners game since we were all rather rusty.

We tried to unscientifically balance the game by letting the german submarine pirates have veteran status, more automatic weapons but fewer troops and only one hero (von Götzelsprider?). The Pan Nordic expedition had slightly more numerous units and one more hero ( blixen and von Rosen). No HMGs nor on either side and we did not include the dog sleads. Buth would obviously made a completely different game.

The objective was to reach al three markers spread out along the center of the board (the carcasses of Andree, Strindberg and Fraenkel) and hold them all for two (later changed to three consequetive change of turn piles).

I particularely like the card turnpile and order card system. It makes for a game easier to manage than in,  say " A good Day to Die", which is similar or GW LotR, which is not similar.

After a breif discussion, not really realizing the full disadvantage to the german player, opted for one turnpile and order stack per player.

The terrain turnout to be too disadvantageous to the germans. While the explorers/sailors could move quite rapidly in 3 groups towards the objectives the sub crew got bottlenecked in apertures of the ice ridge and difficult beach of Vitön. The explorers could therefore pepper them from afar with mausers and seal hunting rifles with less move penalty.

The strategic advantages and disadvantages of splitting up your troops became quite apparent. A rather   large group could get stuck holding one objective*). A small group has more problems facing morale checks.

I'm looking forward to try this scenrio again with changed terrain and objectives, some fast moving units and heavy gear. HMGs and artillery probably calls for more miniatures to because of their pinning abilities.

*) is this a correct interpretation, BTW? If you have a move and shoot order on a unit the whole unit must move (and shoot, if they can)?

[Driscoles]

Thanks for the report Hammer,

You dont have to move all the 6" and you dont have to shoot all your weapons but the modifiers will apply to the whole unit.

Its getting interesting if you play with a unit that has muskets or other slow loading weapons. When we play we usually agree that the player is allowed not to fire all his weapons so he can fire every round with half the unit while the other soldiers reload. Just do what suits best to you.

Anyway, I hope you had fun ( Iam curious on pictures ) and maybe you give T+T another try.

Cheers
Björn

[Hammers]

There will be a full report eventually. We will definitely use those rules again.

[Rhoderic]

In retrospect, maybe we were wrong to have our scientists be Trained. I remember we had some justification for it during the game, but I forget what it was now. I don't know about Hammershield and Arcticman, but I had at first overestimated the difference in quality between Trained and Veteran, and I was afraid the Germans were a superior fighting force. Turned out the other way. We could have had the scientists be Raw, and reserved the Trained status for the sailors and Inuit guides/hunters.

We did broach the subject of slow-loading weapons (muskets, jezzails etc) by the way, when we got to talking about other T&T settings. I'd like to collect a Pathan(ish) force for BoB, which would probably include some outdated rifles and even jezzails. In such a case, I'm not sure I want to put the jezzails in a separate unit. I'd rather mix them in with the newer guns.

[Driscoles]

Hi,

when I wrote the rules I had this in mind :

Raw : No military training or very basic military training ! ( Bandits, Deserters, Militia, Civilians with Guns or Natives with unfamiliar weapons.

Trained : The average Soldier - Conscripts - The average tribal warrior

Veteran : Trained Soldiers with combat experience, Soldiers of Fortune, Spiecial Units etc.

Elite : Extraordinary fighting units. Like the kings bodyguards, fanatic soldiers etc.

The difference between Raw and Trained or Veteran is immense. Not only in the fighting quality but also in morale what is even more important in T+T.

Just play a little bit around and you`ll find a ballanced game.

Cheers
Björn

[Hammers]

The reason we picked regular rather than raw was for narrative reasons rather than balance. The characters which the scenario includes were all ex-military men or seasoned travellers rather than bar keeper, loblolly boys or peons. What we could have don is probably to raise the Germans to elite.

[Poliorketes]

Without HMGs being raw rather than trained isn't such a big difference. But with HMGs you get in deep trouble getting pinned very fast!